The Wayland Sister: City of Bones
by RoniCullen
Summary: Jace's younger sister, Marissa 'Rissa' Wayland, is a Shadowhunter in training. She has a crush on Alec Lightwood and she's Isabelle's parabatai. But none of her Shadowhunter training could prepare her for what happens when Valentine makes his grand return... Rated T. Nothing you won't see in the books.
1. Pandemonium

**A/N The first chapter of the fanfiction! I hope you guys like it. Please review and tell me what you think.**

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"Rissa! Come on!" Jace turned from where he was talking along the sidewalk to glance back at me. I jogged forward.

"I can't help that the rest of you have longer legs than me!" I shot back. Isabelle smiled over at me. We reached the club that Jace insisted there would be demon's in: Pandemonium. I couldn't disagree. I mean it was pan**_demon_**ium. It seemed as though there would be demon's there.

"Izzy, you're bait." Jace told her as we walked inside, unseen by all the humans due to our 'Unseen' marks.

"Why do I have to be the bait? I'm always the bait! Why can't Rissa be bait?" Isabelle demanded.

"You're dressed up for it." I noted, eying her long white dress, meant to cover all her marks.

"I didn't know Jace was allowing you to come! If I did, I certainly would have made you dress the part!" She shot back. She, in return, eyed my sleeveless, knee length black lace dress and black leather ankle boots that showed off my marks.

"There!" Alec motioned towards a blue haired boy. To everyone else in the club, he was normal. Well, as normal as you could be with blue hair. But to us, we saw his true demonic form.

"Izzy, go! Lead him to the storage room!" Jace pushed Isabelle forward. She maintained her perfect balance and went to flirt with him.

"Come on." Alec, Jace and I hurried into the storage room. We waited out of sight for Isabelle to bring him in.

"Why don't you just observe this time?" Jace suggested to me, trying to keep his voice casual. I shot him a death look.

"That's all I've been doing since… forever! Alec, help me out here!" I pleaded, turning to look at the oldest Lightwood. He glanced back at me and then looked at Jace.

"It's one demon. She's fine." He went back to staring intently at the door. I looked over at Jace smugly. He rolled his amber eyes. I sighed quietly, wondering how long it would take Isabelle to bring him in here. I traced my parabatai rune with my finger. It was placed on the inside of my wrist, just like Isabelle's was. We were parabatai, just like Alec and Jace were. I worked my way up my arm, tracing each rune in turn, and then went to the rune placed high on my ankle. It was Equilibrium rune, giving the Shadowhunter perfect balance and making them hard to knock off their feet. It was always placed on a limb. Then the storage room door opened. Alec, Jace and I each drew our weapons of choice. There was whispering for a minute before we heard Isabelle's voice.

"He's all yours, boys!" Jace stepped around the corner first.

"So, are there any more with you?" He asked.

"Any other what?" The boy asked.

"Come on now. You know what I am." Jace teased.

"_Shadowhunter._" He hissed. I couldn't see it, but I knew that Jace was smirking.

"Got you." Alec and I ventured out to join them.

"Little young to be a _shadowhunter_, aren't you?" The demon snarled at me. I found that offensive. I was fifteen (almost sixteen) already, though, admittedly, my size might make me look younger.

"Little stupid to be out alone, aren't you?" I shot back.

"So, you still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you." Jace said, cutting off an response that the boy could have had.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"He means other demons. You do know what a demon is, don't you?" Alec spoke for the first time.

"Demons-." Jace traced the word out in the air with his finger. "-Religiously defined as hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to be any malevolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension-."

"That's enough, Jace." Isabelle interrupted.

"Isabelle's right. Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics. Or demonology." Alec agreed.

"Isabelle, Rissa and Alec think I talk too much. Do _you_ think I talk too much?" Jace asked the demon.

"I could give you information. I know where Valentine is." The demon said. Jace glanced back at Alec and me. We shrugged.

"Valentine's in the ground. The thing's just toying with us." Isabelle flipped her hair out of her eyes.

"Kill it, Jace. It's not going to tell us anything." She told him. Jace raised his knife to do just that.

"Valentine is back! All the infernal worlds know it! I know it! I can tell you where he is!" The demon protested.

"By the Angel, every time we capture one of you, you claim you know where Valentine is. Well, we know where he is too. He's in hell. And you can join him there." Jace told him. He raised his knife again.

"STOP! You can't do this!" A red haired girl jumped out of the shadows. Jace's knife clattered against the floor. Alec spoke first.

"What's this?" He demanded. Jace recovered his composure.

"It's a girl. Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one. You're standing next to another one." Leave it to Jace to be a smart-aleck. Alec glanced at me. I shot him a look. Did he have to look to see if I was _actually_ a girl? Maybe he was just looking past me at the demon. I wasn't sure.

"A mundie girl. And she can see us…" Jace added.

"Of course I can see you! I'm not blind, you know!" The girl shot back at him.

"Oh, but you are." Jace bent down to pick up his knife.

"You just don't know it. You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you." He finished, straightening up.

"I'm not going anywhere! If I do, you'll kill him!" She pointed at the demon.

"That's true." Jace admitted, twirling the knife between his fingers.

"What do you care if I kill him or not?" He wondered.

"Be-because you can't just go around killing people!" She sputtered.

"You're right. You can't go around killing people." He pointed at the demon. "That's not a person, little girl. It may look like a person and talk like a person and maybe even bleed like a person. But it's a monster." Jace explained.

"Jace, that's enough!" I finally snapped.

"You're crazy! I've called the police, you know! They'll be here any second!" She told us.

"She's lying. Jace do you-." Alec started. In that second, the demon broke free. He slashed out at us and caught me in the arm, causing long, painful scratches to appear on my upper arm. Then he flung himself at Jace. He landed on Jace's chest and swiped at him with his hand. His hand came back with blood on it. Isabelle, Alec and I raced towards them. The demon swiped at him again and Jace flung up his arm to protect himself. Blood splattered. Isabelle's whip came down on the demon's back. He shrieked and fell to the side. Jace rolled over and swiftly sank the blade of his knife deep into the demon's chest. The demon stayed on the ground as Jace stood up again, yanking the knife out.

"_So be it. The Forsaken will take you all_." The demon snarled. Jace snarled back. The demon's eyes rolled back and his body began to jerk and twitch as he crumpled, folding on himself. He vanished entirely. The girl scrambled to her feet and turned to run. I moved to get in between her and the door. There was a cracking sound as Isabelle's whip shot out and wrapped itself around the girl's wrist.

"Stupid little mundie!" Isabelle growled.

"You could have gotten Jace killed!" I added, pointing my dagger at the girl. She kept trying to pull her wrist back, but was unable to.

"He's crazy! You're all crazy! What do you think you are, vigilante killers? The police-." She started.

"The police aren't usually interested unless you can produce a body." Jace told her, cradling his arm as he crossed the room to stand closer to us girls. Alec followed, scowling.

"They return to their home dimensions when they die? In case you were wondering." Jace told her.

"Jace! Be careful." Alec hissed, going over to examine my arm.

"She can see us, Alec. She already knows too much." Jace returned.

"So what do you want me to do with her?" Isabelle demanded.

"Let her go." Isabelle shot him a surprised and angry look, but did argue. Her whip slithered away from the girl's wrist. The girl rubbed the red mark on her wrist.

"Maybe we should bring her back with us. I bet Hodge would like to talk to her." Alec said, dropping my arm again.

"No way are we bringing her to the Institute. She's a _mundie_!" Isabelle protested.

"Or is she?" Jace asked softly.

"Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you-."

"My name is not 'little girl'! And I have no idea what you're talking about." She interrupted him.

"I don't believe in… in demons or whatever you-." She started.

"Clary?" A voice called. She whirled around. Alec pulled me out of her way, careful of my arm. A tall, lanky boy with glasses stepped into the room.

"Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys you saw? The ones with knives?" He asked. She stared at him and then looked at us. Jace grinned and gave her a half mocking shrug. Clary turned towards the boy again.

"I thought they went in here. But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry. It was a mistake." Isabelle giggled.

* * *

We walked back towards the Institute. Jace, Alec and Isabelle were arguing a few feet ahead of me. I had my stele out, trying to draw a healing rune on my bare arm and walk at the same time. I tripped when one of my feet went off the sidewalk. I hit the pavement with a painful thump. I crawled halfway under a parked car for my stele, which I had dropped. When I crawled back out, Alec was crouching down on the sidewalk, watching me.

"You okay, Rissa?" He asked. I nodded, pushing myself to my feet with my good arm. He pulled me back onto the sidewalk and snatched my stele from me. He swiftly drew a healing rune on my upper arm and handed the stele back to me.

"Thanks." I mumbled, ignoring the stinging sensation from the rune. He nodded and pulled me along. Jace and Isabelle were several yards ahead of us by now, still arguing from what I could tell. Alec's arm brushed against mine as we walked. I tried to ignore it. The only person who knew of my crush on him was Isabelle, who, as far as I knew, had told no one. We rounded the corner and reached the Institute.

"I'll tell Hodge about what happened." Isabelle offered as we got inside. She walked off. I headed for my bedroom. I stripped off my blood stained clothes and got into my pajamas. Then I climbed into bed. Church meowed and jumped up onto the bed next to me. I petted him.

"Hey, Church." I greeted him. I snuggled up to my pillow and fell asleep.

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**A/N Just a few things I wanted to explain: **

**1. Even though it follows the book, the ages are the same as in the movie. Clary is turning eighteen instead of sixteen. **

**2. Alec is not gay in this fanfiction. **

**If you don't like that I changed the ages and changed it so there's no Alec/Magnus pairing, then you don't have to read it. I just think that it should be this way for this fanfiction. **

**As I said above, please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. Ravener

**A/N Please review and tell me what you think!**

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_Blood pooled at my feet. I clung to Jace as we watched the men who murdered our father leave, leaving the still body in front of us. _

I gasped as I woke up. I quickly got out of bed and headed for Jace's bedroom. When I pushed the door open, it was empty. I frowned. I turned to Church as he casually strolled down the hallway.

"Take me to Jace." I told him. He turned and headed the opposite direction than he had been heading. I followed him. He led me into the weapons room and then left. I walked through the maze-like aisles of weapons, steles and witch lights. Alec was sitting at a table, sharpening a knife, but Jace was no where to be seen.

"If you're looking for Jace, he left a couple minutes ago." He said without looking up. I nodded.

"Oh. Okay." I turned to leave but Alec's voice stopped me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." I heard him get up and cross the room to get to me. I turned around to look at him.

"Another nightmare?" He asked. Everyone knew how prone I was to night terrors. I nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." I walked out of the weapons room.

* * *

Isabelle and I were hanging out in her room. She was working on her hair in front of the vanity while I twirled my stele around my fingers.

"You have to tell him eventually." Isabelle said

"What?" I asked, not following.

"Alec. You have to tell him about your crush on him."

"No. No I don't."

"Rissa-."

"Isabelle! No." She huffed but said nothing else. Just then, Church came into the room. He meowed loudly and motioned for us to follow him by jerking his head and hurrying back the way he came. Isabelle and I exchanged looks. Then we got up and followed him. He was moving faster than expected from a fat cat like him. We hurried after him. He led us down to the front door. Alec and Jace were leaning over the red haired girl from last night. We ran over to them.

"What happened?" I asked, kneeling down. She was unconscious, looking pale and sickly.

"She was attacked by a Ravener." Jace told us.

"And she's still alive?" Isabelle asked, surprised and suspicious at the same time.

"Let's get her to the sickroom. Isabelle, get Hodge." Jace swung her up into his arms while Isabelle hurried off again. Jace, Alec and I got the girl to the sickroom and lied her down on one of the beds. Alec hurried off to go see Hodge and Isabelle.

"Where were you?" I asked Jace.

"I was investigating her. She could see us in the club, Rissa. I wanted to know why and how!"

"And then you two got attacked by a Ravener demon?"

"No. She did. She killed it." He told me.

"By herself?"

"No, she had a herd of unicorns helping her." When in doubt, Jace reverted to sarcasm as a way out.

"Jace-." I started.

"Yes, by herself!"

"She's still a mundane." I reminded him.

"I don't care. The Ravener demon was after something. She stays here, with us, for now."

* * *

Alec and I watched the red haired girl as she lied, still unconscious, on the bed.

"Do you think she'll ever wake up? It's been three days already." I broke the silence.

"You have to give her time. Demon poison is strong stuff and she's a mundane. She hasn't got runes to keep her strong like we do." He reminded me.

"Mundies die awfully easily, don't they?"

"Marissa, you know its bad luck to talk about death in a sickroom!"

"Sorry, but it's true…" I mumbled.

"Now that I look at her… It definitely is the same girl from Pandemonium." Alec added after a moment.

"I know. Jace said she killed a Ravener."

"Yeah, I know… I thought she was a pixie the first time we saw her. She's not pretty enough to be a pixie though."

"Well nobody looks their best with demon poison in their veins." I shot back.

"Is Hodge going to call on the Brothers?" He asked.

"I hope not. They give me the creeps. Anyone who mutilates themselves like that-."

"We mutilate ourselves." He reminded me.

"I know, Alec, but when we do it, it isn't permanent! And it doesn't always hurt…" I muttered.

"If you're old enough. Speaking of which, where's Jace? He saved her, didn't he? I would have thought he'd take some interest in her recovery."

"Hodge said he hasn't been to see her since he brought her here."

"I guess he doesn't care."

"Sometimes I wonder if he- Look! She moved!" I cried.

"I guess she is alive after all. I'll tell Hodge." He sighed and left the sickroom.

A little while later, I watched as the girl hauled herself up into a sitting position. She looked around.

"So you're finally awake. Hodge will be pleased. We all thought you'd probably die in your sleep." I told her. She whirled around to look at me.

"Sorry to disappoint you. Is this the Institute?" She asked, looking around again.

"Is there anything Jace _didn't_ tell you?" I asked, rolling my eyes. Sometimes my brother could be such the idiot…

"This is the Institute, right?" She asked with a cough.

"Yes. You're in the infirmary, not that you haven't figured that out already." She clutched at her stomach with a gasp of pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked, standing up.

"My stomach." She moaned.

"Oh right. I almost forget. Hodge said to give you this when you woke up." I poured some liquid from the pitcher into a cup and handed it to her.

"You haven't eaten anything in three days. That's probably why you feel sick." I explained to her as she took a sip.

"What is this?" She asked.

"One of Hodge's tisanes. They always work." I told her. I stuck out a hand for her to shake.

"I'm Marissa Wayland, by the way." She shook my hand, keeping the cup in her other hand.

"I'm Clary. Clary Fray. Did Jace bring me here?"

"Did he ever! You got slime and blood all over the carpet in the entryway. Jace said you killed that Ravener demon all by yourself."

"I guess I did." She _guessed_ she did?

"But you're a Mundane."

"Amazing isn't it? Where is Jace? Is he around?"

"Somewhere, yeah. I should go tell everyone you're up. Hodge will want to talk to you."

"Hodge is Jace's tutor, right?"

"He tutors all of us." I pointed towards the bathroom.

"The bathroom's through there and I hung up some of my old clothes on the towel rack in case you want to change. We should wear the same size. You're pretty small."

"What happened to _my_ clothes?"

"They were covered in blood and poison. Jace burned 'em."

"Did he? Tell me, is he always really rude or does he save that for Mundanes?"

"Oh, he's rude to everyone. Except me. Well, sometimes, but not nearly as much as everyone else." I explained.

"Is he your brother?"

"Yep."

"Older, I'm guessing?"

"By almost three years."

"And you're Alec and Isabelle's siblings, right?"

"No. What gave you that idea?" I asked, frowning. We, for one, looked nothing like the Lightwood's and, for two, were all nearly the same age. It wasn't logical for us all to be biological siblings.

"Well, you and Jace live here with Alec and Isabelle, don't you?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Why don't you live with your own parents?" Beatings from demons, I could take. That question, however, made me flinch.

"Because they're dead." I told her.

"Oh… Did they die in an accident?"

"No. Mom died when I was born. Dad was murdered when I was eight… Well, eight-ish. Jace and I saw the whole thing."

"Oh… Was it… Demons?" Okay. I was officially done.

"I'm going to let everyone know you've woken up. There's soap in the bathroom. You might want to clean up a little. You smell."

"Thanks a lot."

"Don't ask about my parents and no insults shall be exchanged, got it?" I hurried from the room.


	3. Clave and Covenant

**A/N boring chapter; just a lot of talking. But the chapter will be much more exciting. Please review!**

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Jace ended up bringing Clary into the library while I was talking to Hodge. I moved to sit on the arm of the chair Alec was sprawled out in.

"Where's Isabelle?" I asked in a whisper as Clary, Hodge and Jace talked.

"Her room. Outfit change… Again." He explained, keeping his voice low as well.

"Ah…"

"That was quick thinking. What gave you the idea of using the Sensor as a weapon?" Hodge asked Clary.

"I can't believe you buy that story, Hodge." Alec scoffed.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean, Alec. Are you suggesting that she didn't kill tat demon after all?" Hodge asked.

"Of course she didn't! Look at her! She's a mundie, Hodge. And a little kid, at that. There's no way she took on a Ravener!"

"I'm not a little kid! I'm eighteen years old… Well, I will be on Sunday."

"Older than Marissa. Would you call Marissa a child?"

"Marissa hails from one of the greatest Shadowhunter dynasties in history and I've seen her kill demons three times her size with my own eyes. This girl, on the hand, hails from New Jersey!"

"I'm from Brooklyn!" Clary said, outraged.

"And so what? I just killed a demon in my own house and you're going to be a-." I elected to ignore that choice name. "-about it because I'm not some spoiled rotten rich brat like you and your sister!"

"What did you just call me?!" He stood up and I jumped up too, grabbing his arm to stop him. Jace just laughed.

"She has a point, Alec. It's those bridge-and-tunnel demons you really have to watch out for-."

"It's not funny, Jace! Are you just going to let her stand there and call me names?" Alec asked.

"Yes. It'll do you good. Try to think of it as endurance training."

"We may be parabatai. But your flippancy is wearing on my patience!" Alec said tightly.

"And your obstinacy is wearing on mine. When I found her, she was lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a dying demon practically on top of her. I watched as it vanished. If she didn't kill it, who did?"

"Raveners are stupid. Maybe it got itself in the neck with its stinger. It's happened before-."

"Now you're suggesting it committed suicide?" Jace asked with another laugh and a shake of his head.

"It isn't right for her to be here." I finally spoke, drawing the attention away from Alec. Jace looked at me with a questioning expression.

"Mundanes aren't allowed in the Institute and are there are good reasons for that. If anyone knew about this, we could be reported to the Clave." I reminded him.

"That's not entirely true. The Law does allow us to offer sanctuary to mundanes in certain circumstances. A Ravener has already attacked Clary's mother. She could well have been next." Hodge said.

"Raveners are search and destroy machines. They act under orders from warlocks or powerful demon lords. Now, what interst would a warlock or demon lord have in an ordinary Mundane household? Any thoughts?" Alec asked Clary coldly.

"It must have been a mistake." She replied.

"Demons don't make those kinds of mistakes. If they went after your mother, there must have been a reason. If she were innocent-."

"What do you mean 'innocent'?" She asked quietly. He looked taken aback.

"I-."

"What he means is that it is extremely unusual for a powerful demon, the kind who might command a host of lesser demons, to interest himself in the affairs of human beings. No mundane could safely summon a demon. They lack that power. By there may have been some, desperate and foolish, who found a warlock to do it for them." Hodge explained.

"My mother doesn't know any warlocks. She doesn't believe in magic." Clary protested. Then her expression faltered.

"Madame Dorothea. She lives downstairs. She's a witch. Maybe the demons were after her and got my mom by mistake?" She asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"A witch lives downstairs from you?" Hodge asked.

"She's like most witches. A fake. I already looked into it. There's no reason for any warlock to be interested in her unless he's in the market for nonfunctional crystal balls." Jace assured him. He turned back to Clary.

"Warlocks are born magic users. Witches are humans who've taught themselves a little magic. But very few are the real thing." He explained.

"And we're back to where we began. It seems the time has come to notify the Clave." Hodge said.

"No! We can't-." Jace said.

"It made sense to keep Clary's presence here a secret when we were not sure she would recover. But now she has and she is the first Mundane to pass through the doors of the Institute in over a hundred years. You know the rules about Mundane knowledge of Shadowhunters, Jace. The Clave must be informed."

"Absolutely. I could get a message to my father-." Alec started.

"She's not a Mundane." Jace muttered.

"But I am." Clary said quietly.

"No. You aren't. That night, there were Du'sien demons, dressed like police officers. We had to get past them. Clary was too weak to run and there wasn't time to hide. She would have died. So I used my stele to put a mendelin rune on the inside of her arm. I thought-."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Hodge slammed his hand down on the top of his desk.

"You know what the Law says about placing Marks on Mundanes! You…. You of all people ought to know better!" He went on.

"But it worked! Clary, show them your arm!" She held out her arm. There was a fading rune on the inside of her wrist.

"See? It's almost gone. Didn't hurt her at all!" Jace said.

"That's not the point. You could have turned her into a Forsaken!" Hodge told him.

"I can't believe you, Jace!" I snapped at him.

"Only Shadowhunters can receive Marks from the Gray Book! They _kill _Mundanes!" Alec joined in.

"She's not a Mundane! Haven't you been listening? It explains why she could see us. She must have Clave blood!" Jace told him.

"But I don't. I couldn't." Clary muttered, lowering her arm.

"You must! If you didn't, the Mark I made on your arm-."

"That's enough, Jace! There's no need to frighten her further!" Hodge interrupted.

"But I was right, wasn't I? It explains what happened to her mother, too. If she was a Shadowhunter in exile, she might well have Downworld enemies!"

"My mother wasn't a Shadowhunter!"

"Your father, then. What about him?"

"He died. Before I was born." Jace and I both flinched. It was Alec that spoke.

"It's possible. If he father were a Shadowhunter and her mother a Mundane. Well we all know it's against the law to marry a mundie. Maybe they were in hiding."

"My mother would have told me!"

"Not necessarily. We all have secrets." I told her.

"Luke. Our friend. He would know! It's been three days. He must be frantic. Can I call him? Is there a phone? Please." Jace looked at Hodge. He nodded and moved aside from the desk. She quickly dialed and spoke into the phone.

"Luke. It's me. It's Clary…. I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't call you before. Luke, my mom-…. Then you haven't heard from her? What did the police say… I'm in the city. I don't know where exactly. With some friends. My wallet's gone, though. If you've got some cash, I could take a cab to your place-…. What…? We could call-…. I don't want to stay here! I don't know these people. You-…. I'm sorry. It's just…." She dialed again after 'Luke' hung up. This time she banged the phone down with trembling hands.

"I take it he wasn't happy to hear from you?" Jace asked. He had moved to lean against the other armrest of Alec's chair.

"I think I'd like to have a talk with Clary. Alone." Hodge said.

"Fine. We'll leave you to it." Alec got up, pulling me along with him.

"That's hardly fair! I'm the one who fund her. I'm the one who saved her life! You want me here, don't you?" Jace appealed to Clary. She looked around. I rolled my eyes.

"Not everyone wants you all the time, Jace." I told him.

"Don't be ridiculous. Fine then. We'll be in the weapons room." He got up and Alec, he and I walked out of the library.


	4. Forsaken

**A/N Wow! It's been a while since I've updated, huh? Sorry for the wait. I hope the excitement of this chapter makes up for it. I will try to update more often. Reviews are appreciated!**

* * *

While Alec fiddled with some of the weapons, Jace and I trained with swords. I blocked as Jace swung at me but lost my footing and fell on my butt. Jace pointed the sword at my throat.

"Clumsy." He accused, smirking. He offered me a hand and helped me to my feet before going over to help Alec while I put the swords away again. Clary came into the room.

"Where's Hodge?" Jace asked.

"Writing to the Silent Brothers." I had to repress a shudder.

"Ugh."

"What are you doing?" She asked, motioning to Jace and Alec.

"Polishing these. Made by the Iron Sisters, our weapon makers. They're seraph blades." Jace explained.

"Those don't look like knives. How did you make them? Magic?"

"The funny thing about mundies is how obsessed with magic they are for a bunch of people who don't even know what the word means." Jace said to nobody in particular.

"I know what it means!" Clary snapped.

"No, you don't, you just think you do. Magic is dark and elemental force, not just a lot of sparkly wands and crystal balls and talking goldfish." I told her.

"I never said it was a lot of talking goldfish, you-" Clary started to tell me. Jace waved a hand, cutting her off.

"Just because you can an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And good help the poor man who decides he wants to take a bath with the duckie."

"You're driveling." Clary observed.

"I'm not!" Jace said with great dignity.

"Yes, you are. Look, we don't do magic, okay? That's all you need to know about it." Alec told Clary. Clary sighed and looked at Jace.

"Hodge says I can go home."

"He said what?!" Jace demanded.

"To look through my mother's things. He said to take Marissa with me."

"Why me?" I asked.

"He seriously doubts anything will be there and figured it would be good Shadowhunter practice." She explained.

"Fine. Let's go." I agreed.

"I'm coming too." Jace jumped up.

"I can handle it!" I protested. He ignored me.

"If we go right now, we should have another three, four hours of daylight."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Alec asked.

"No! I can handle it without Jace!" I said.

"Clary, Rissa and I can handle this on our own." Jace assured him.

"Have you got your house keys?" Jace asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Not that we couldn't break in, but we'd run a greater chance of disturbing any wards that be up if we did."

"If you say so."

"Jace?" Clary asked as we got into the elevator.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know I had Shadowhunter blood? Was there some way you could tell?" She asked.

"I guessed. It seemed like the most likely explanation."

"You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you killed me."

"I was ninety percent sure."

"I see..." There was something in her voice that made Jace turn to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put his hand to his cheek in more surprise than pain.

"What the heck was that for?"

"The other ten percent." We got out of the elevator and Jace walked ahead. I looked at Clary in surprise. No one else would dare slap Jace.

"What?" She asked.

"You slapped Jace."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. That was awesome." I gave her a high five and then we ran to catch up with Jace.

* * *

We rode the subway train towards Clary's house. I rested my head on Jace's shoulder and Clary sat on the other side of him.

"Those girls on the other side of the car are starting at you." Clary told Jace. I looked over at them. They didn't seem to care that he had two girls with him.

"Of course they are. I'm stunningly attractive."

"Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?"

"Only from ugly people." He said and smirked at his own cleverness.

"The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me." He winked at the girls, who giggled and hid behind their hair.

"How come they can see you?" Clary asked.

"Glamours are a pain to use. Sometimes we don't bother."

* * *

As we walked down the street, Jace started humming.

"Do you have to do that? It's annoying." Clary complained. He hummed louder. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry I smacked you." Clary muttered.

"Just be glad you hit me and not Alec. You would have hit you back."

"He seems to be itching for the chance. What was it that Alec called you? Para-something?"

"Parabatai. It means a pair of warriors who fight together. Who are closer than brothers. Or sisters, in Isabelle and Rissa's case. We're more than just best friends. Alec's father and my father were parabatai when they were young. His father was my godfather, that's why I live with them. They're my adopted family." Jace explained.

"But your last name isn't Lightwood?"

"No." We had gotten to her house.

"It looks the same." Clary noted.

"On the outside." Jace pulled a Sensor out of his pocket.

"So that's the Sensor? What does it do?" Clary asked.

"It picks up frequencies, like a radio does, but these frequencies are demonic in origin." Jace explained.

"Demon shortwave?"

"Something like that. It's picking up some trace activity but that could be just left over from that night. I'm not getting anything strong enough for there to be demons present now." We had walked up to the door.

"Good." She said with a sigh. She unlocked the front door.

"I'll go in first." Jace said. He pushed the door open with one hand, beckoning for us to follow. We walked in.

"Blood." Jace ran his hand along the banister and it came back red.

"Maybe it's mine. From the other night." Clary suggested.

"It'd be dry by now." I told her.

"Yes. Rissa is surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to blood. Don't ask why." Jace told her.

"Come on." He added a second later. We headed up the stairs. She unlocked the door there before Jace pulled her back.

"I'll go in first." We walked inside with Jace leading the way.

"What would demons want with our microwave?" Clary asked, going into the empty kitchen.

"I don't know but I'm not sensing any demonic presence right now. I'd say they're long gone."

"Are you satisfied? There's nothing here." I told Jace, since he seemed tenser than usual.

"I want to see my room." Clary told us.

"If that's why it takes." I said with a sigh. I turned and lead the way down the hallway. I paused by the three doors at the end of the hallway. Clary went to open one of the doors. Suddenly the door blew outward. It hit both of us and knocked us against the opposite wall. I moaned and rolled myself over onto my stomach. A Forsaken loomed over us, but turned to look at Jace. He pulled his seraph blade out of his pocket.

"Sansanvi!" The blade shot from the tube. He slashed at the Forsaken and it staggered back with a bellow.

"Come on!" He whirled around and grabbed Clary, pulling her to her feet.

"Rissa!" I scrambled to my feet and ran with them as we headed out the front door again. Jace slammed it shut behind us and we all heard the click of the automatic lock. The door shook on its hinges.

"Get downstairs! Get out of the-!" Jace started. The door hinges gave way and the door flew outward. Jace moved out of the way. He yelled something at Clary, but neither one of us heard it. Clary flattened herself against the wall as the Forsaken made its way over to us. I drew my own seraph blade and called its name. The Forsaken threw its axe at us. We moved out of the way and it buried itself into the banister. Jace and I looked at each other and nodded in silent understanding. We jumped forward and stabbed our seraph blades into the Forsaken's chest. It fell forward and we tried to move out of the way, but we weren't fast enough. The three of us fell down the stairs. Somehow, I ended up on top of Jace and underneath the Forsaken. I felt like the inside of a sandwich, but I didn't think I was hurt. Clary ran downstairs and over to us as I debated how to free myself. She kneeled down and laid a hand on Jace's shoulder as I tried to squirm free. Clary whispered Jace's name. His eyes popped open.

"Is it dead?"

"Almost." She said grimly.

"My legs." He winced. He looked at me.

"You aren't helping, Rissa."

"Hey, I'm stuck too!" I shot back.

"Hold still" Clary crawled around to his head and slipped her hands under his arms. I groaned and lifted myself up as much as I could, which was about half an inch. Clary pulled him out from under me and the spasming Forsaken. Once Jace was gone, there was nothing but me, the hard floor and the Forsaken.

"Is your arm alright?" Clary asked Jace.

"No. Broken." He answered.

"Yeah, okay, little help?" I asked.

"Two seconds. Inside jacket pocket, right side. Get my seraph, Clary." Clary grabbed it for him.

"Sanvi." It activated. Jace pushed himself to his feet.

"Rissa, don't move. I don't want to stab you." He stabbed the Forsaken to finally kill it.

"I thought it would disappear. Back to its own dimension, you said." Clary said as Jace dropped his seraph blade. He grabbed my arm and between me squirming and him pulling, I got out from under the body.

"I said that's what happens to demons when they die. That wasn't a demon." Jace explained shortly. I grabbed my stele from my boot and grabbed Jace's arm.

"Ow!" He complained. I drew a healing rune on his arm.

"Thanks." He mumbled. He flexed his arm.

"That's amazing. How did you-?" Clary asked.

"That was an iratze. A healing rune." I explained shortly. Jace prodded the Forsaken's corpse with his boot.

"We're going to have to report this to Hodge. He'll freak out."

"Why will he freak? And I get that that thing isn't a demon, that's why the Sensor didn't register it, right?" Clary asked.

"You see the scars all over its face?"

"Yes."

"Those were made with a stele. Like that one." He motioned to the stele I held in my hand.

"You asked me what happens when you carve Marks onto someone who doesn't have Shadowhunter blood. Just one Mark could burn you, even kill you, but a lot of Marks, powerful ones? Carved into the flesh of a totally ordinary human being with no trace of Shadowhunter ancestry? You get this. The runes are agonizingly painful. The Marked ones go insane. The pain drives them out of their minds. They become fierce, mindless killers. They don't sleep or eat unless you make them and they die, usually quickly. Runes have great power and can be used to do great good, but they can be used for evil. The Forsaken are evil." Jace explained.

"But why would anyone do that to themselves?" Clary asked, staring at Jace in horror.

"Nobody would. It's something that gets done to them. The Forsaken are loyal to the one who Marked them and they're fierce killers. They can obey simple commands too. It's like having a slave army."

"I'm going back upstairs." I told them, heading for the staircase.

"But there's nothing there." Clary called after me.

"There might be more of them. You should wait here." Jace told her. He hurried to catch up with me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. There are more of them where the first one came from." We spun around towards the voice.


	5. The Five Dimensional Door

**A/N Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter!**

* * *

"Madame Dorothea?" Clary asked. The woman stood in the doorway of her apartment, dressed in what looked like a tent made of purple silk. Gold chains glittered around her wrists and throat. Her long badger striped hair straggled from the bun pinned to the top of her head.

"But-." Jace started.

"More what?" Clary demanded.

"More Forsaken. You have made a mess haven't you? I'm sure you weren't planning on cleaning up either. Typical."

"But you're a Mundane!" Jace said, finishing his sentence.

"So observant. The Clave really broke the mold with you."

"You know about the Clave? You knew about them and you knew there were Forsaken in this house and you didn't notify them? Just the existence of the Forsaken is a crime against the Covenant-." I started.

"Neither Clave nor Covenant had ever done anything for me. I owe them nothing." Jace and I glared at her.

"Stop it!" Clary told us. She turned back to Madame Dorothea.

"If you know about the Clave and the Forsaken, maybe you know what happened to my mother?"

"My advice to you is to forget about your mother. She's gone."

"You mean she's dead?" Clary asked in a whisper.

"No. I'm sure she's still alive. For now."

"Then I have to find her! You understand? I have to find her before-." Madame Dorothea held up a hand to stop her.

"I don't want to involve myself in Shadowhunter business."

"But you knew my mother! She was your neighbor-."

"This is an official Clave investigation. We can always come back with the Silent Brothers." I told Madame Dorothea. Jace had moved back downstairs and stood behind Clary, but I stayed leaning against the banister on the stairs.

"Oh for the-." Madame Dorothea didn't finish that, but just looked at the three of us.

"I suppose you might as well come in. I'll tell you what I can." She turned towards her door, but then turned back to stare coldly at me.

"But if you tell anyone I helped you, _Shadowhunter_, you'll wake up tomorrow with snakes for hair and an extra pair of arms."

"That might be nice, an extra pair of arms. Handy in a fight." Jace said thoughtfully while my hand went up to my blonde hair protectively.

"Not if they're growing out of your neck."

"Yikes."

"Yikes is right, Jace Wayland." She marched into her apartment. Clary looked at Jace and me.

"I think we might as well try talking to her. What have we got to lose?" Jace rolled his eyes.

"Once you've spent a bit more time in our world, you won't ask me that again." We walked into Madame Dorothea's apartment. Clary walked over to the bookcase.

"Interested in chiromancy or just nosy?" Madame Dorothea asked.

"Neither. Can you really tell fortunes?"

"My mother had a great talent. She could see a man's future in his hand or the leaves at the bottom of his teacup. She taught me some of her tricks. Speaking of tea, you man, would you like some?"

"What?" Jace asked, looking flustered.

"I'll have tea." Clary tsaid.

"All right. As long as it isn't Early Grey. I hate bergamot." Madame Dorothea disappeared into the next room.

"You hate bergamot?" Clary echoed.

"You have a problem with that?"

"You may be the only guy my age I've ever met who knows what bergamot is, much less that it's in Early Grey tea."

"Yes, well, I'm not like other guys." He said with a smirk.

"At the Institute we have to take classes in basic medicinal uses for plants. It's required." I explained.

"I figured all your classes were stuff like Slaughter 101 and Beheading for Beginners." She said.

"Very funny, Fray." Jace told her.

"Don't call me that."

"Why not? It's your last name, isn't it?"

"No reason."

"I see. There must be the trash she keeps up front to impress credible Mundanes. There's not one serious text here." He shut the book her was looking at.

"Just because it's not the kind of music you do-." Clary started.

"_We do not do magic_." I told her sternly.

"Get that through your head: human beings are not magic users. It's part of what makes them human. Warlocks can only use magic because they have demon blood." Jace added an explanation.

"But I've seen you use magic. You use enchanted weapons-."

"We use tools that are magical. And just to be able to do that, we have to undergo rigorous training. The rune tattoos on our skin protect us too. If you tried to use one of the seraph blades, for instance, it'd probably burn your skin, maybe kill you." I explained.

"What if I got the tattoos? Could I use them then?"

"No. The marks are only part of it. There are tests, ordeals, levels of training… Look, just forget it, okay? Stay away from my blades. In fact, don't touch any of my weapons without my permission." Jace explained.

"Well there goes my plan for selling them on EBay."

"Selling them on _what_?" Jace asked.

"A mythical place of great magical power." She told him. He looked confused but then shrugged.

"Most myths are true, at least in part."

"I'm starting to get that." Madame Dorothea poked her head into the room.

"Tea's on the table. There's no need for you three to keep standing there like donkeys. Come into the parlor."

"There's a parlor?" Clary asked.

"Of course there's a parlor. Where else would I entertain?"

"I'll just leave my hat with the footman." Jace joked. Madame Dorothea shot him a dark look.

"If you were half as funny as you thought you were, my boy, you'd be twice as funny as you are." She turned and disappeared back through the curtain. Jace frowned.

"I'm not sure what she meant by that."

"Really? It made perfect sense to me." I told him, smirking. Clary and I went into the next room before he could reply. The next room was dimly lit with a group of overstuffed armchairs around a low table. On one end of the table, sat a stack of tarot cards that were bound with a silk ribbon and on the other end sat a crystal ball on a golden stand. In the middle of the table sat a silver tea set with stacks of small sandwiches.

"Wow. This looks great." Clary said, taking a seat. Madame Dorothea smiled and lifted the pot.

"Have some tea. Milk? Sugar?" I wearily took a seat next to Jace, who had already taken control of the sandwich plate. He bit into a sandwich.

"Cucumber." He said.

"I always think cucumber sandwiches are just the thing for tea, don't you?" Madame Dorothea inquired of no one in particular.

"I hate cucumber." Jace returned. He handed the rest of his sandwich to me. I rolled my eyes, took it and started to eat it.

"Cucumber and bergamot. Is there anything else you hate that I ought to know about?" Clary asked.

"Liars." He stared at Madame Dorothea over the rip of his cup.

"You can call me a liar all you like. It's true. I'm not a warlock. But my mother was." She said calmly. I had to swallow hard and Jace choked on his tea.

"That's impossible!" I told her.

"Why impossible?" Clary asked, sipping her tea.

"Because they're half-human, half-demon. All warlocks are cross breeds. And because they're crossbreeds, they can't have children. They're sterile." Jace explained.

"Like mules. Mules are sterile crossbreeds." Clary said thoughtfully.

"Your knowledge of livestock is astounding." I told her, nibbling on my sandwich. She shot me a look.

"All Downworlders are in some part demon but only warlocks are the children of demon parents. It's why their powers are the strongest." Jace explained.

"Vampires and werewolves. They're part demon too? And faeries?"

"Vampires and werewolves are the result of diseases brought by demons from their home dimensions. Most demon diseases are deadly to humans, but in these cases they worked strange changes on the infected, without actually killing them. And faeries-." Jace started.

"Faeries are fallen angels cast down out of heaven for their pride." Madame Dorothea finished.

"That's the legend. It also said that they're the offspring of demons and angels which always seemed more likely to me. Good and evil, mixing together. Faeries are as beautiful as angels are supposed to be but they have a lot of mischief and cruelty in them." I explained.

"You are quite the logical Shadowhunter." Madame Dorothea told me. Jace replied before I could.

"You should see our friend Alec. He's the one that taught her all of that."

"Wait. Supposed to be? You mean angels don't-?" Clary started to ask.

"Enough about angels! It's true that warlocks can't have children. My mother adopted me because she wanted to make sure there'd be someone to attend this place after she was gone. I don't have to master magic myself. I have only to watch and guard." Madame Dorothea explained.

"Guard what?" Clary asked.

"What indeed?" Madame Dorothea asked. She looked down at the empty sandwich plate. Clary had eaten them all.

"It's good to see a young woman eat her fill. In my day, girls were robust, strapping creatures, not twigs like they are nowadays."

"Thanks." Clary didn't sound thankful at all. She set down her teacup with a clatter. Instantly, Madame Dorothea pounced on it.

"What? Did I crack the cup or something?" Clary asked nervously.

"She's reading your tea leaves." Jace told her, sounding bored.

"Is it bad?" Clary asked, leaning forward as Madame Dorothea scowled into the cup.

"It is neither bad nor good. It's confusing." She looked straight at Jace.

"Give me _your_ cup."

"But I'm not done with my-." She grabbed the cup and splashed the excess tea back into the pot before looking into the cup itself.

"I see violence in your future, a great deal of blood shed by you and others. You'll fall in love with the wrong person. Also you have an enemy."

"Only one? That's good news." Jace said, leaning back in his chair casually. Madame Dorothea grabbed my untouched cup before I could protest and dumped the tea back into the pot. She scowled into it.

"Hmm… You will find love very soon. And an enemy. And violence. You are quite like your brother."

"Heard that before." I mumbled. She took Clary's cup again and shook her head.

"There's nothing for me to read here. The images are jumbled, meaningless. Is there a block in your mind?"

"A what?"

"Like a spell that might conceal a memory or might have blocked out your sight."

"No, of course not." Jace leaned forward.

"Don't be so hasty. It's true that she claims not to remember ever having had the Sight before this week. Maybe-."

"Maybe I'm just a late developer and don't leer at me just because I said that!"

"I wasn't going to."

"You were working up a leer, I could tell!"

"Maybe but that doesn't mean he's not right. Something's blocking your memories. I'm almost sure of it." I told her.

"Very well, let's try something else." Madame Dorothea grabbed the tarot cards and held them fanned out to Clary.

"Slide your hand over these until you touch one that feels hot or cold or seems to cling to your fingers. Then draw that one and show it to me." Clary obeyed. She held one up.

"The Ace of Cups. The love card." Clary flipped it back towards her to see it.

"This is a good card, right?"

"Not necessarily. The most terrible things men do, they do in the same of love. But it is a powerful card. What does it mean to you?"

"That my mother painted it. She did, didn't she?"

"She painted the whole pack. A gift for me."

"So you say. How well did you know Clary's mother?" Jace asked, standing up. Since he stood up, I stood up too.

"Jace, you don't have to-." Clary started.

"Jocelyn knew what I was and I knew what she was. We didn't talk about it much. Sometimes she did favors for me, painting this pack of cards, and in return I'd tell her the occasional piece of Downworld gossip. There was a name she asked me to keep an ear out for and I did."

"What name was that?" Jace demanded.

"Valentine."

"But that's-!" I started.

"And when did you say you knew what Jocelyn was? What do you mean? What was she?" Jace interrupted me.

"Jocelyn was what she was. But in her past she'd been like you. A Shadowhunter. One of the Clave."

"No." Clary whispered.

"It's true. She chose to live in this house precisely because-."

"Because this is a sanctuary. Isn't it? Your mother was a warlock. She made this space hidden, protected, probably surrounded by wards. It's a perfect spot for Downworlders on the run to hide out. That's what you do, isn't it? You hide criminals here." Jace accused.

"You would call them that. You're familiar with the motto of the Covenant?"

"_Sed lex dura lex_. The Law is hard but it is the Law." Jace and I quoted instantly in unison.

"Sometimes the Law is too hard. I know the Clave would have taken me away from my mother if they could. You want me to let them do the same to others?"

"So you're a philanthropist. I suppose you expect me to believe that Downworders don't pay you handsomely for the privilege of your sanctuary?" Jace asked.

"We can't all get by on our looks like you."

"I should tell the Clave about you-." Jace started.

"You can't! You promised!" Clary protested.

"I never promised anything. You want to tell me what this is?" Jace strode over to the wall and tore aside one of the velvet hangings.

"It's a door, Jace." Clary told him.

"Shut up. It's a Portal! Isn't it?" Jace asked angrily.

"It's a five-dimensional door. Dimensions aren't all straight lines you know. There are dips and folds and nooks and crannies all tucked away. It's a bit hard to explain when you've never studied dimensional theory, but, in essence, that door can take you anywhere in this dimension that you want to go. It's-." Madame Dorothea started to explain to Clary.

"An escape hatch. That's why your mother wanted to live here. So she could always flee at a moment's notice." I interrupted.

"Then why didn't she-…. Because of me. She wouldn't leave without me that night. So she stayed." Clary said, horrified.

"You can't blame yourself." Jace told her, suddenly softening. She pushed past Jace to get to the portal.

"I want to see where she would have gone. I want to see where she was going to escape to-."

"Clary, no!" Jace shouted. He reached for her, but Clary had already touched the knob. It flew open as if she'd pushed it and Clary was sucked in.

"Jace!" I warned. But he jumped in after her. I rolled my eyes and went in after him.


	6. Weapon of Choice

**A/N I went away from the original chapter a bit, but you won't see it until the end. I hope you like it! Please review as usual. **

* * *

The sensation of falling made me want to throw up. I fell through a couple tree branches before I thumped to the ground, hard. I took a deep breath and sat up.

"Hey, there you are." Jace greeted me, helping me to my feet again. I brushed off my pants, though I shouldn't have worried about it. I was covered in Forsaken blood anyway.

"I know where we are." Clary said from behind us. We turned to look at her.

"What?"

"This is Luke's house." She told us. She headed up over to the fence.

"He lives in a bookstore?" I asked. Jace reached over and pulled a twig out of my hair.

"He lives behind the store. How did we get here?" She asked.

"Through the portal. It takes you to whatever place you're thinking of." Jace explained.

"But I wasn't thinking of here. I wasn't thinking of anywhere!"

"You must have been." I snapped. I was tired, dirty and not in the mood to humor her right now.

"So since we're here anyway, what do you want to do?" Jace asked her.

"Leave, I guess. Luke told me not to come here."

"And you just accept that?" Jace pressed.

"Do I have a choice?"

"We always have choices. If I were you, I'd be pretty curious about Luke right now. Do you have keys to the house?" He asked.

"No, but sometimes he leaves the back door unlocked."

"You sure he isn't home?"

"Well, his truck's gone, the store's closed and all the lights are off. I'd say probably not."

"Up and over." Jace jammed the toe of his boot into a gap in the fence and began to climb. I hurried after him. Clary stayed below, waiting until we were over to start climbing herself. I swung myself over the top of the fence and landed next to Jace on the other side, but I landed on something. There was a yelp and then something very big tore for the porch. Jace and I ran after it. Jace caught up with the intruder and tackled him to the ground.

"Come on! Let's see your face!" Jace said, struggling with him.

"Get off me, you-." Choice words that I'm surprised didn't get killed for calling Jace. He shoved Jace off him and got in a half sitting position.

"Simon?!" Clary asked, stopping dead in her tracks. Jace groaned.

"Oh, god. And here I'd actually hoped I'd got hold of something interesting." Clary went over to Simon and started brushing leaves out of his hair.

"But what were you doing hiding in Luke's bushes?" Clary asked.

"All right, that's enough. I can fix my own hair, Fray." Simon mumbled.

"I mean, did Luke known you were there?" Clary asked. We moved up to the porch to talk. Jace started using his stele to file his fingernails. I slapped his hand to make him stop.

"Of course he didn't know I was there! I never asked him, but I'm sure he has a fairly stringent policy about random teenagers lurking in his shrubbery." Simon returned.

"You're not random; he knows you. The main thing is that you're all right." Clary told him softly.

"That _I'm _all right. Clary, do you have any idea what I've been through this past couple of days? The last time I saw you, you were running out of Java Jones like a bat out of hell and then you just… disappeared. You never picked up your cell. Your home phone was disconnected. Then Luke told me you were off staying with some relatives upstate when I know you don't have any other relatives. I thought I'd done something to piss you off." Simon explained.

"What could you possible have done?" Clary reached for his hand, but he pulled it back.

"I don't know. Something." He mumbled. Jace chuckled under his breath. I looked over at him.

"What?" I asked in a whisper.

"One way teen love. He loves her, she doesn't know. It's quite amusing." He replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Not amusing when you're the one in love." I mumbled. He looked at me, waiting for an explanation that I didn't give him. We turned back to Simon and Clary.

"Yeah, well, you clearly also couldn't be bothered to call me and tell me you were shacking up with some dyed-blonde-wanna-be-goth wierdos you probably met at Pandemonium. After I spent the last three days wondering if you were _dead_!" Simon cried.

"I'm not shacking up!" Clary protested.

"And our hair is naturally blonde, just for the record!" Jace added. I rolled my eyes again. Leave it to my brother to figure that is the most important thing right now.

"So what have you been doing these past three days, then? Do you really have a great aunt Matilda who contracted avian flue and needed to be nursed back to health?" Simon asked Clary, ignoring Jace.

"Did Luke actually say that?"

"No. He just said you had gone to visit a sick relative and that your phone probably just didn't work out in the country. Not that I believe him. After he shooed me off his front porch, I went around the side of the house and looked in the back window. Watched him packing up a green duffel bag like he was going away from the weekend. That was when I decided to stick out and keep an eye on things." Simon explained.

"Why? Because he was packing a bag?"

"He was packing it full of weapons! Knives, a couple daggers, even a sword. Funny thing is, some of the weapons looked like they were glowing! Now, are you going to say I was imagining it?"

"No. I'm not going to say that…. I'm going to tell him the truth." Clary said, turning to Jace and me.

"I know." Jace said, nodding once.

"Are you going to try to stop me?" Clary asked.

"Our oath to the Covenant binds my sister and myself. No such oath binds you." Jace assured her. She turned back to Simon.

"All right. Here's what you have to know." I looked at Jace.

"The Clave is going to kill us!"

* * *

By the time Clary had finished her tale, the sun had slipped entirely down and the porch was in darkness. I sat on the porch railing with Jace standing in front of me, listening to her tale even though we'd lived it ourselves.

"So, any questions?" Clary asked Simon.

"Oh, of course he doesn't! You just changed his entire view on the world." I said sarcastically.

"You are such a Jace!" Clary accused.

"There is only one Jace Wayland!" Jace said quickly.

"Trust me, it's for the best." I told him.

"Because I'm awesome and the world couldn't handle two of me?" He asked.

"Sure. Whatever." I told him.

"I've got questions. Several." Simon put in.

"Okay. Shoot." Clary told him. In the dim light, we could see him point at us.

"Now they are… What do you call people like them again?"

"Shadowhunters." Clary told him.

"Demon hunters. We kill demons. It's not that complicated really." Jace clarified.

"For real?" Simon asked.

"For real." She said firmly.

"And there are vampires too? Werewolves, warlocks, all that stuff?"

"So I hear."

"And you kill them too?" Simon directed this question at us.

"Only when they've been naughty." Jace said with a smirk. I smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! Why is everyone hitting me today?" He asked.

"Because you deserve it."

"That is so _awesome_!" Simon cried.

"Awesome?" Jace and I asked in unison. Our job had been described as many things, but 'awesome' was a new one.

"Totally. It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but real!"

"Like what?" I asked, turning to Clary for some sort of explanation.

"It's a game. People pretend to be wizards and elves and they kill monsters and stuff." Clary explained, sounding embarrassed.

"You've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons?" Simon asked.

"I've heard of Dungeons." Jace said, nodding.

"Also dragons, but they're mostly extinct." I added.

"You've never killed a dragon?" Simon asked, disappointment clear in his voice.

"They have probably never met a six-foot-tall hot elf-woman in a fur bikini either. Lay off, Simon." Clary told him, sounding irritated.

"Real elves are about eight inches tall. Also, they bite." I pointed out, getting tired of this turn of conversation.

"But vampires are hot, right? I mean some of the vampires are babes, aren't they?" I wanted to lunge across the porch, grab him by the throat and throttle him.

"Some of the maybe." Jace said, considering it.

"Awesome!" Simon said again.

"Are we going to search the house or not?" I asked, hopping off the porch railing.

"I'm game. What are we looking for?" Simon asked.

"I don't remember inviting you along." I told him.

"Rissa!" Clary protested.

"Fine! Can we just get to work instead of talking about 'babes'?" I asked angrily. Clary opened the front door and we filed into the small room inside. She went to the next door, but it wouldn't open.

"It's locked."

"Allow me, mundanes." Jace said, setting her gently aside. He pulled out his stele.

"Oh for crying out loud!" I shoved past him, grabbed the dagger tucked into my boot and shoved it in between the crack in the door, moving it up and down by the handle to get it between the lock and the doorframe. There was a clicking sound and I swung the door open.

"Impress the mundanes later, Jace!" I told him. We walked inside. The next room was a small storage room. It had cardboard boxes stacked everywhere.

"The apartment's through there." Clary started to head through the narrow stacks of boxes.

"Wait." Jace caught her arm.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know…" He edged between two narrow stacks of boxes and then whistled.

"Rissa, come here." I moved past Clary to get to where he was. Jace took out his witchlight to light up the whole room. I looked towards where he pointed as Clary and Simon came in behind me.

"Manacles?" I asked, eying the chains in the wall.

"That's…ah…." Simon started.

"Don't say 'kinky'! This is Luke we're talking about." Clary interrupted him. I reached up and ran my hands inside one of the manacles. My fingers came back bloody.

"Blood… And look. Someone tried to yank these things out of the wall. Tried pretty from the looks of it." Jace said.

"Do you think Luke is all right?" Clary asked, her voice breaking.

"I think we'd better find out." Clary led the way wearily into Luke's apartment.

"I think he's still around. The percolators on and there's coffee here. Still hot." Simon announced after rummaging through the kitchenette. I took out my own witchlight and made my way into Luke's book-lined office. The green duffel bag that Simon had described was still on the desk. I looked inside. Also as Simon had described, it was full of weapons. I picked up a _charkram_ and examined it.

"Careful with that." I jumped at the sound of Jace's voice. He came into the room behind me.

"I almost cut my finger off!" I hissed. He gently took the _chakram_ from me.

"A good sign you shouldn't be playing with these."

"I wasn't playing with them, I was-." Just then, Clary walked into the room.

"What's that?" She asked, nodding towards the _chakram_.

"It's a _Chakram_. A sikh weapon. You whirl it around your index finger before releasing it. They're rare and hard to use. Strange that Luke would have one. They used to be Hodge's weapon of choice, back in the day. Or he tells us." Jace explained.

"Luke collects stuff. Art objects, you know. Pretty things." Clary explained. The tone of voice suggested that she was doing all she could to convince herself that the Luke she knew was the real Luke.

"Is this yours?" I asked, holding up another object from the bag. It was a wooden frame photograph with a long crack along the glass. The photo was of Clary and who I assumed was Luke and her mother.

"That _is_ mine…" She said, taking it from me and examining it.

"It's cracked." Jace observed.

"I know. I did that. I smashed it. When I threw it at the Ravener demon. That means Luke's been back to the partment since the attack. Maybe even today-."

"He must have been the last person to come through the portal. That's why it took us here. You weren't thinking of anything, so it sent us to the last place it had been." Jace said.

"Nice of Dorothea to tell us he was there." Clary said sarcastically.

"He probably paid her off to be quiet." I told her with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Either that or she trusts him more than she trusts us. Which means he might not be-." Jace started. Then Simon raced into the room, looking panicked.

"Guys! Someone's coming!" He cried. Clary dropped the photo onto the floor.

"Is it Luke?" Simon nodded.

"It is. But he's not by himself. There are two men with him."

"Men?" Jace went to the door and peered out. Then he spat a curse under his breath.

"Warlocks."

"Warlocks? But-." Clary started.

"Is there some other way out of here? A back door?" I asked, interrupting her. She shook her head.

"Get behind that! _Now_." Jace hissed, pointing to a rosewood screen. Clary put the picture back on the desk and ducked behind the screen, pulling Simon with her. Jace and I followed, barely concealing ourselves before we heard the door swing open. Jace put his stele tip to the screen and drew a square, which turned clear. It was one-way; we could see them, but they couldn't see us. Luke was talking to two men in red robes, who were rummaging through the room.

"Yes, feel free to look around. Nice of you to show such interest." Luke's voice was heavily weighted in sarcasm. The men pushed their hoods back. One was thing with a grey mustache and beard. The other was burly with close cropped reddish hair.

"Those are warlocks?" Clary whispered softly. I ignored her as recognition hit me like a brick to the face. I moved to go out into the room. Jace shoved the stele into Clary's hand and grabbed me, clamping a hand over my mouth and holding me back. Clary and Simon gave us confused looks, but didn't say anything.

"No…" Jace whispered. He had gone rigid with the same recognition that had hit me. His arms locked around me so I couldn't move.

"Shadowhunters. In warlock robes." Jace explained to Clary. I struggled against him, but he was stronger than I was and him being rigid didn't help me.

"Consider this a friendly follow-up, _Graymark_." The one with the grey mustache said.

"There's nothing friendly about you, Pangborn." Luke told him.

"Blackwell, don't touch that. It's valuable." He added sternly. Blackwell, who had picked up a statue from a shelf, smirked.

"Nice." He said. Pangborn went over and took the statue from him.

"Ah… She who was created to battle a demon who could not be killed by any god or man. 'Oh, Kali, my mother full of bliss! Enchantress of the almighty Shiva, in thy delirious joy thou dancest, clapping thy hands together. Thou art the Mover of all that moves and we are but thy helpless toys'."

"Very nice. I didn't know you were a student of Indian myths." Luke said.

"All the stories are true. Or have you forgotten even that?" Pangborn asked.

"I forget nothing. I supposed Valentine sent you?"

"He did. He thought you might have changed your mind.'

"There's nothing to change my mind about. I already told you. I don't know anything. Nice cloaks, but the way."

"Thanks. Skinned them off a couple of dead warlocks." Blackwell said smugly.

"Those are official Accord robes, aren't they? Are they from the Uprising?"

"Spoils of battle." Pangborn said with a soft chuckle.

"Aren't you afraid someone might mistake you for the real thing?"

"Not once they got up close." Blackwell told him.

"Do you remember the Uprising, Lucian? That was a great and terrible day. Do you remember how we trained together for the battle?" Pangborn asked.

"The past is the past. I don't know what to tell you, gentlemen. I can't help you now. I don't know anything."

"Anything is such a general word. So unspecific. Surely someone who owns so many books must know _something_."

"If you want to know where to find a jog-toed shallow in the springtime, I could direct you to the correct reference title. But if you want to know where the Mortal Cup has disappeared to…" Luke started.

"Disappeared might not be the correct word. Hidden, more like. Hidden by Jocelyn." I was still struggling against Jace. Finally, he spun me around and held on tight to my arms.

"_Don't even think about it!_" He whispered so low I wasn't even sure that Simon and Clary could hear.

"_You can't expect me to just sit here-_." I started to whisper back.

"_Yes and you have to! Rissa, you can't take them all on_."

"_Watch me_!" I challenged. He spun me back around, locking his arms around me and holding me to his chest again. We looked out the one-way square again.

"There was a child, wasn't there? A girl." Pangborn was saying.

"What?" Luke looked taken aback.

"Don't play dumb. We know the-." He called Clary's mom a choice word that made Clary frown. "-had a daughter. They found photos of her in the apartment. A bedroom-."

"I thought you were asking about children of mine. Yes, Jocelyn had a daughter. Clarissa. I assume she's run off. Did Valentine send you to find her?" Luke interrupted smoothly.

"Not us. But he is looking." Pangborn told him.

"We could search this place." Blackwell added.

"I wouldn't advise it. What makes you think-?" I broke free of Jace's grip and before he could stop me, I flung myself around the screen and onto Blackwell's back, knocking him to the ground. I heard Jace cuss behind me.

"Go!" He ordered Clary and Simon as they all came out from behind the screen.

"Clary-." Luke started.

"GO!" Jace ordered more firmly, blocking a punch from Pangborn with his wrist and then punching him in return. Clary and Simon bolted. Blackwell grabbed my arms and threw me against the wall. Artifacts hanging there rattled dangerously. I drew a dagger from my belt and flung it at Blackwell. He side-stepped out of the way and it sunk into the wall behind him. He grabbed me by the arms again, pinning me against the wall. He backed up, pulling me with him and then slammed me against the wall again. Again. Again. Finally he threw me _through_ the drywall into the room beside it. I knocked into several boxes and had to shove them off me. He came through the hole in the wall after me. I climbed to my feet and reached for the sword strapped to my back. He caught my hand before I could and grabbed the sword. He threw it to the side and wrapped his hands around my throat. I kicked him in the stomach and sent him stumbling back. I went after him and kicked him in the chest again. He hit the wall and slid down. I kicked him in the face. I was going for another kick when he caught my ankle and twisted it in a jerky motion. I fell onto my stomach, twisting in mid-air because of my ankle. I kicked out with my other foot and hit his face again. He let me go. We both scrambled to our feet. I drew another dagger from my belt and stabbed forward. It caught him in the shoulder and he howled in pain. Then he pulled it out and flung it aside as well. I glanced around and saw the chains on the wall. I ran over there and he followed me. I grabbed the chains and wrapped it around his neck. I jerked them back and choked him. He struggled to get free, but it was a bit hard when I was choking him to death with a heavy chain. Jace ran into the room.

"Rissa! We need to go!" He told me. I didn't move. He was going to die if it was the last thing I did…

"RISSA!" Jace ran forward and grabbed me, hauling me off Blackwell who was now unconscious. I struggled to get free.

"Ris, come on!" He pulled me out the back entrance. Simon and Clary were waiting by the fence.

"Climb! Go!" He ordered. I looked back towards the bookstore but then obeyed and climbed over the fence with Clary. Simon and Jace climbed over after us. We ran for the street. As we got there, Clary caught my arm. I shoved her off a little rougher than I meant to.

"Don't touch her after a fight. She'll kill you too." Jace warned. Clary and Simon backed away farther than necessary.

"What was that back there? You went NUTSO!" Simon cried. Jace reached out to grab my arm, afraid I was going to kill him for that, and I moved away. Jace turned to Clary and Simon.

"Those men… Those are the men that killed our father."


	7. The Circle and the Brotherhood

**A/N Short chapter. I apologize. I'll get the next chapter up soon, though. **

* * *

Clary and Simon gaped at the two of us. Clary reached for Jace's arm to comfort him. Simon reached for my hand. I smacked his hand away, hard. He withdrew and hung his head, embarrassed.

"We should go." I added. We started walking down the sidewalk.

"Does anyone want to tell me where we're going?" Simon asked.

"To the L train." Jace replied calmly.

"You've got to be kidding me. Demon slayers take the subway?" He asked. I stopped and turned to look at him.

"It's faster than walking. Any other suggestions, Mr. Intelligence?" I snapped.

"A van with 'Death to Demons' painted on the side or-."

"Simon. Enough." Clary told him, apparently having gotten my sarcasm better than him. We kept walking.

* * *

We walked up to the Institute.

"You live _here_? But it's a church." Simon asked. Jace took the key hanging around his neck and unlocked the door.

"We find it useful to inhabit hallowed ground." He explained. I was pacing in front of the front door, waiting for him to unlock it.

"I get that, but, no offense, this place is a dump."

"It's a glamour, Simon. It doesn't really look like this." Clary assured him.

"If this is your idea of glamour, I'm having second thoughts about letting you make me over." Jace looked back at Simon.

"I'm not sure you're quite sensible of the honor I'm doing you. You'll be one of the few mundanes who has ever been inside the Institute."

"Probably the smell keeps the rest of them away."

"Ignore him. He always says exactly what comes into his head. No filters." Clary said, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Filters are for cigarettes and coffee. Two things I could use right now, incidentally." Simon mumbled as we walked inside the Institute. We rode the elevator up to the next floor. Church was lying on the carpet outside the elevator.

"Church. Where's Alec, Church? Where's Hodge?" Jace asked, kneeling down next to him. Church stood up.

"Are they in the library?" Jace asked. Church shook out his fur and walked down the hallway. We followed.

"I don't like cats." Simon said behind me.

"Given Church's personality, I doubt he's fond of you either." I returned. Church led us into the kitchen. Isabelle was standing in front of the stove with tomatoes, peanuts, olives and fish around her.

"I'm making soup. Are you hungry?" Isabelle asked, turning around. Then she saw us.

"Oh my gosh… You're covered in blood and… how much of that is that your own blood?" Isabelle jumped forward to hug me and then fuss over me.

"I'm fine." I assured her. She examined the bruises on my arms and face.

"Yeah, you look fine." She said sarcastically. Then she whirled on Jace.

"You brought another Mundie here?! Hodge is going to kill you!" She yelled at him.

"I'm Simon." Simon piped up. She ignored him.

"JACE WAYLAND, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" She yelled. Jace looked down at Church.

"I told you to bring me to Alec! Backstabbing Judas…"

"Oookay… I'll be in the shower." I left the kitchen and headed to my bedroom.

* * *

Once I had taken a long shower to get the blood off me, I got dressed in a black tank top and ripped jeans. I dried my hair and opened my bedroom door to walk out. I jumped with Alec was there.

"Oh, hey." I greeted him.

"Isabelle told me what happened."

"And what exactly did she say?" I asked hesitantly.

"Oh, not much. Just that you went physco on the guys that killed your father." He said with a shrug. I almost laughed. Almost. I motioned for him to come in. He came into the room and sat on the edge of my bed.

"I'm glad you're okay." Alec told me. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks and hoped he didn't notice.

"Thanks." I looked away, busying myself throwing my stained clothes into the wastebasket by my desk. Isabelle poked her head into the room.

"Dinner's ready. I ordered Chinese." She announced. Alec got up and left for the kitchen. Isabelle looked at me.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"Nothing at all." I brushed past her to get something to eat.


	8. City of Bones

**A/N I hope you guys like this chapter. Please review as always. **

* * *

The kitchen was warm and the salt-sweet smell of takeout filled the room. Hodge and Jace had explained everything and now we were letting it sink in.

"Well, I think it's kind of romantic." Isabelle said.

"What is?" Simon asked, instantly alert.

"The whole business about Clary's mother being married to Valentine. So now's he back from the dead and he's come looking for her. Maybe he wants to get back together." Isabelle suggested.

"I kind of doubt he sent a Ravener demon to her house because he wants to 'get back together'." Alec said.

"It wouldn't be my move. First the candy and the flowers, then the apology letters, _then_ the ravenous demon hordes. In that order." Jace said. I kicked him under the table.

"He might have sent her candy and flowers. We don't know." Isabelle protested.

"Isabelle, this is the man who rained down destruction on Idris the like of which had never see, who set Shadowhunter against Downworlder and made the streets of the GlassCity run with blood." Hodge said.

"That's sort of hot that evil thing." Isabelle argued. Simon tried to looking menacing.

"Don't. Just don't." I told him. He stopped, hanging his head.

"So why does Valentine want this cup so badly and why does he think Clary's mom has it?" Simon asked after a minute.

"You said it was so he could make an army. You mean because you can use the Cup to make Shadowhunters." Clary said to Hodge.

"Yes."

"So Valentine could just walk up to any guy on the street and make a Shadowhunter out of him? Just with the Cup? Would it work on me?" Simon asked eagerly. Hodge looked at him for a minute before answering.

"Possibly… But the reason only a few mundanes are ever chosen to Ascend and become Nephilium is that most would never survive the transition. It takes special strength and resilience. Before they can be turned, they must be extensively trained and tested… But Valentine would never bother with that. He would use the Cup on any human he could capture and cull out the twenty percent who survived to be his army. An army he could use to attack the Clave."

"How do you know he'd do that?" Alec asked, looking horrified.

"Because when he was in the Circle, that was his plan. He said it was the only way to build the kind of force that was needed to defend our world."

"But that's murder!" Isabelle said, looking a little green.

"He said that we had made the world safe for humans for a thousand years and now was their time to repay us with their own sacrifice."

"Their lives?" I asked, loosing my appetite.

"That goes against everything we're supposed to be about! Protecting the helpless, safeguarding humanity-." Jace started, cheeks flushed with anger.

"Valentine was insane. Brilliant, but insane. He cared about nothing but killing demons and Downworlders. Nothing but making the world pure. He would have scarified his on son for the cause and could not understand how anyone else would not."

"He had a son?" I asked.

"I was speaking figuratively." Hodge said, reaching for his handkerchief. He used it to mop his forehead before returning it to his pocket.

"When his land burned, when his home was destroyed, it was assumed he had burned himself and the Cup to ashes rather than relinquish either to the Clave. His bones were found in the ashes, along with the bones of his wife." He explained.

"But my mother lived. She didn't die in that fire." Clary protested.

"And neither, it seems now, did Valentine. The Clave will not be pleased to have been fooled. But more importantly, they will want to secure the cup. And more importantly that that, they will want to make sure Valentine does now."

"It seems to me that the first thing we'd better do is find Clary's mother. Find her, find the Cup, get it before Valentine does." Jace said.

"Absolutely not!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Nothing. All this is best left to the skilled, experienced Shadowhunters."

"I am skilled! I am experienced!" Jace protested, waving his hand.

"I know that you are, but you're still a child, or nearly one." Hodge's tone was firm and final.

"I am _not_ a child." Jace looked at Hodge through narrowed eyes.

"Hodge is right. Valentine is dangerous. I know you're a good Shadowhunter. You're probably the best our age. But Valentine's one of the best there ever was. It took a huge battle to bring him down." Alec said.

"And he didn't exactly stay down. Apparently…" I reminded him.

"But we're here. We're here and because of the Accords, nobody else is. If we don't so something-." Jace started.

"We are going to do something. I'll send the Clave a message tonight. They could have a force of Nephilim here by tomorrow if they wanted. They'll take care of this. You have done more than enough." Hodge said.

"I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it. You just have to shut up and not do anything stupid." Isabelle told him.

"But what about my mother? She can't wait for some representative from the Clave to show up. Valentine has her right now! Pangborn and Blackwell said so! And he could be…" Clary trailed off.

"Hurting her." Simon finished for her.

"I thought the Clave was pledged to protect people. Shouldn't there be Shadowhunters here right now? Shouldn't they already be searching for her?" Clary asked.

"That would be easier if we had the slightest idea where to look." Alec snapped.

"But we do." Jace said.

"You do? Where?" Clary looked at him eagerly.

"Here." Jace leaned forward and touched his fingers to the side of her temple.

"Everything we need to know is locked up in your head, under those pretty red curls." Clary reached up to touch her hair protectively.

"I don't think so."

"So what are you doing to do? Cut her head open to get at it?" Simon asked sharply. Jace's eyes sparked at the suggestion but he said calmly:

"Not at all. The Silent Brothers can help her retrieve her memories."

"You _hate_ the Silent Brothers." Isabelle reminded him.

"I don't hate them. I'm afraid of them. It's not the same thing."

"I thought you said they were librarians." Clary said.

"They are librarians." Simon whistled.

"Those must be some killer late fees."

"The Silent Brothers are archivists, but that is not all they are. In order to strengthen their minds, they have chosen to take upon themselves some of the most powerful runes ever created. The power of these runes is so great that the use of them… Well, it warps and twists their physical forms. They are not warriors in the sense that other Shadowhunters are warriors. Their powers are of the mind, not the body."

"They can read minds?" Clary asked in a small voice.

"Among other things. They are among the most feared of all demon hunters."

"I don't know. It doesn't sound so bad to me. I'd rather have someone mess around inside my head that chop it off." Simon said.

"Then you're a bigger idiot than you look." Jace snapped.

"Jace is right. The Silent Brothers _are_ really creepy." I interrupted them as they stared each other down.

"They are very powerful. They walk in darkness and do not speak, but they can crack open a man's mind the way you might crack open a walnut and leave him screaming alone in the dark if that is what they desire." Hodge told us.

"You want to give me to _them_?" Clary looked at Jace, looking appalled.

"I want them to help you. Maybe we don't get to look at the Cup. Maybe the Clave will do that. But what's in your mind belongs to you. Someone's hidden secrets in there, secrets you can't see. Don't you want to know the truth about your own life?"

"I don't want someone else inside my head."

"I'll go with you. I'll stay with you while they do it."

"That's enough! Leave her alone!" Simon jumped up from the table. Alec looked over at him.

"What are you still doing here, mundane?" Simon ignored him.

"I said, leave her alone."

"Alec is right. The Institute is sworn to shelter Shadowhunters, not their mundane friends. You have a nice day." I told him. Isabelle got up.

"I'll show him out." Isabelle led him from the room.

"I'm tired. I want to sleep." Clary muttered, standing up.

"You've hardly eaten anything." Jace protested.

"I'm not hungry." She left the kitchen. I got up and left too. She was sitting with her head in her hands against the wall. I walked past her up the stairs to the next floor. I heard Jace coming after me. I turned as he hurried over to me.

"What?" I asked tiredly.

"We need to talk about what happened."

"When?"

"How about when you went crazy on Blackwell?" He suggested, folding his arms across his chest.

"There's nothing to talk about." I started to walk away, but he caught my arm and spun me around to face him again. I yanked my arm back.

"I tried to get revenge on the man that killed _our_ father, Jace! What I don't understand is why you weren't thinking the same thing?"

"Because I was thinking like a warrior. I was weighing our options with an untrained Shadowhunter and a mundane there. You were thinking like a-." He stopped abruptly.

"Like a what?" I pressed through clenched teeth.

"Like a child! This is why I don't like taking you on hunts and missions because you act like a child!" I didn't say anything for a moment. He closed his eyes for a second and then reached for my arm.

"Rissa, you know-."

"I know that? That you didn't mean that? Because we both know you did. And if I'm thinking like a child, you're thinking like a lover!"

"What?" It was his turn to be taken back.

"Let's not pretend you don't have feelings for that Clary girl, Jace! You like her. You didn't want to fight because you were worried about _her_! So save me the lecture on how I keep messing up because as long as she's here, you're going to be the one screwing up but you don't even care!" I turned and hurried into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I slid down the door onto the floor. Hatred for Clary bubbled up inside me. I couldn't wait until she left…


End file.
